I am looking to buy another printer. Not as in maybe, as I have already build the enclosure, and want to purchase another one. I am looking at many options, and I will list them out. My question to everyone else is, if you have these printers, how come? And if you were to get one of them which of them would it be?
I am looking for speed, quality prints, and community support. (In my new printer)
I particularly like the Voron printers as they have the tap system. I have decided that I am going to avoid bl-touches at all costs. So. . . the Voron 2.4 r2 350 or the trident 300 are pretty high up on the list. Which one is better? I need help. I am also looking for speed, and I know that the vz bots are fast, but I am kinda worried about quality control from ali-express. The Ratrigs are nice, however are they any better than the Voron considering all the amazing things that Voron implements at the same price (or lower)? I also like the fact that the Voron 350 takes up less room than the Ratrig 300. So, without further ado, here is my list.
Voron Trident 300mm
Voron 2.4 R2 350mm
Vz Bot. . . is there a 300mm kit?
Ratrig vcore-3.1 300mm
Please give any feedback that might help me make a final decision.
Just a comment about the Voron 2.4 - it’s definitely not the cheapest option and it’s a lot of work to get running right. I’ve had mine for almost two years now and I really only got it working the way I wanted to about six months ago and during that time it was a real money pit. Don’t forget that it will take you two weeks or so (of $200) to print all 204 parts that are used in the basic printer.
The Voron 2.4, when you have it running, it is pretty good but getting to that point will take a long time and maybe will double the initial cost.
I would recommend it if you are buying the printer as a hobby but if you want to do printing then maybe look at some of the others.
No I don’t regret buying it - it taught me a lot and got me into Klipper.
I don’t think I’d buy another one and I wouldn’t recommend it to somebody else who was just looking to print. My biggest peeve about the 2.4 are the belts: replacing any of them is a several hour job that requires taking apart a lot more than I think a commercial printer should have - especially one with the accolades of the 2.4. Secondly, while the Octopus is fine, I’d recommend people to go with a Manta M8P and a CM4/CB1 as there are pretty substantial savings in parts and labour by doing that. Thirdly, the toolhead options are fair at best; I’d like to see something like a Micro Swiss NG (which I’ve come to love) on it.
Basically, I don’t think it’s as polished a product as people make it out to be.
The thing is, I am really attracted to the fact that the Voron team has implemented the tap system. Never having to mess with a bltouch seems like a dream. I can’t tell you how often my mount for the bltouch breaks, or it breaks, I have probably had 20 bltouch related issues since I got one. In short, I hate bltouch’s.
Just know that pretty much all probing options with the nozzle directly can be a lot of bother to actually use. Even if they are not buggy and mechanically well, you must not forget to clean the nozzle from the gunk remaining from prior prints before the actual probing starts. Otherwise, that gunk will mess up the measured nozzle height and screw up the first layer. And that can become a real bother. You can conceivably make it to work with PLA and such by heating the nozzle not too much and cleaning it by running it into the bed (pretty much what MK4 does), but that leaves higher-temp plastics out, as you can seriously damage the print plate with a nozzle that’s more hot (unless it’s a bare steel or glass).
As for the printer choice, I’d recommend joining the Discord servers of each of those projects (even if unofficial), and check out what kind of issues the users run into, both when assembling and when using. Then you can hopefully judge for yourself whether you’re OK with the downsides and issues of a given printer or not. Otherwise, it can be a very charged topic
It’s not the length or number that’s the issue - it’s the ease in which you can thread them in the system.
If find in my 2.4 threading the X/Y belts into the rear stepper mounts to be particularly vexing and getting them properly set up in the front tensioners is a real challenge. The less said about the Z axis belts the better.
My 2.4 kit didn’t come with Gates belts and started failing surprisingly quickly (after about a hundred hours of printing) and that’s where I experienced again the pain in putting in new belts. If you get a 2.4 kit, make sure that you use Gates’ as since I’ve used them as replacements, I haven’t had any issues.
Maybe here would help a cleaning macro where you heat up the nozzle to a certain degree and then while it is cooling down move across a silicon lip or small wire brush forth and back until the filament is solid again and then you can start probing.
Best thing on probing with the nozzle either with Tap or an integrated load cell is that thermal expansion is taken into account.
That means you measure the actual distance between bed and nozzle (as long as the bed is heated as well). But when the nozzle is heated up during this process it might ooze again…
However if the mechanic is ok you can determine offsets as well.
With my 2.4 I did put on the Tap and had problems with oozing - went on the discord server and got the suggestion to have the nozzle run over a small wire brush after a short retraction to pull any material out of the nozzle to avoid oozing. After a few dozen prints, the wire brush has a slight notch in it where the nozzle wore it down and the end of the nozzle was no longer flat but had scratches in it from the brush which resulted in uneven material extrusion and poor quality prints. Steel nozzles worked better and longer but there still ended up being problems with a lot of nozzle and brush replacement - I gave up after three brushes.
I’d like to see a good (and cheap) optical sensor for sensing the absolute nozzle position but until then it’s a 20lb sheet of printer/copy paper and the tug test.
I fully agree with @dmbutyugin’s point about the nozzle as a probe. I have tested this setup as well and while it has some really charming advantages like automatically compensating for any twisted axes (no probe offset), the “daily” disadvantages were too dominant for my personal taste.
Looks good but you did not give any information about your budget.
All printers require exact building and may get you some (more) grey hair…
Personally I would go with the VzBot 330 AWD. Just because I like Simons videos.
